Confessions of a Content Junkie

Actually, I’m more of a content whore. I will fill in almost any form, cough up contact info and rat out my boss’s boss’s boss if it gets me some primo reading material for free. White papers, ebooks, research, videos — you name it, I’ll download it.

Partly this is because I’m easily bored and never attend a meeting without a file folder full of reading  just in case things descend into a cluster fu*k and I need to busy myself in a corner somewhere. I also travel a lot so when the airline Thought Police have pried my computer, phone and iPod from my cold, stiff fingers, I’m left only with the in-flight magazine or some great content.

My  primary motivation, however, is that I’m a content marketer myself so I’m always looking for inspiring ideas, horrible examples and ass-covering data for my Corporate Overlords. I figure I download about 40MB of content a week, mostly documents. I save these in a folder on my PC called “Things to Read” and anything longer than five or six pages I print because I am old and Air Canada is mean to me.

So from one content provider to another, could I make a few simple suggestions?

1. Please. Please. Please. Put a title on the document.
   WP110310-FermBrly_EN-Final.pdf is not a title. It doesn’t tell me anything. It certainly doesn’t help me find it later in my Things to Read folder and it’s not exactly screaming “Read Me, I’m Really Compelling.”  A title like this is also wasting an opportunity to get your name on my hard drive. Don’t let your marcom production nerd name your document, call it Acme Resources – How to Ferment Barley at Work.  Or something equally brief and descriptive.
2. Go ahead and ask for information, but get on with it
   As a content whore I don’t have a problem with your needing some information in exchange for your content. But let’s not overdo it. You can have my name, company, email and city or province. That’s it. If you want to qualify me as a lead, it’s back in your court. Four fields. That’s it.
3. Give me the damn document.
   Please don’t make me go back to my email, click a link, type a word from a swirly image and then download your PDF. Just give it to me. I’m busy.
4. Suggestions are welcome.
   I’m amazed more content providers don’t take a hint from Amazon and make context-based suggestions for other content. For example: “People who downloaded this presentation also liked our white paper on Eating Pencil Erasers” or just a little pop-up window with related titles. I am usually researching a specific topic so the easier you make it for me to take all your content, the happier I will be.
5. Don’t make me hunt for stuff
   I realize your brilliant content was relegated to the Resources page by the track-pant-wearing web guys and I don’t mind a few clicks, but for God’s sake, put all your content in one place and organize it by subject, not format. If I want info on the future of faxing I’m not really picky about whether it’s a white paper or a PowerPoint.
6. No, it’s not okay to stalk me.
   Just because I  had to give you my phone number to get your content doesn’t mean you get to call me every day for the rest of your life. If I liked your content and I want to do business with you, I will find you.  But go ahead and send me an email. I might respond. And put me on your list for new content.  I’d be disappointed if you didn’t.  Why not send me a survey and ask me to rate your content? Then we’ll be having a conversation instead of a restraining order.

BizMarketer is written by Elizabeth Williams
I help companies have better conversations
Drop me a line at ewilliams@candlerchase.com
Or follow me @bizmkter